Local hops harvest

In case you missed the Times Union’s story today on a local hops harvest, I recommend checking out Scott Waldman’s report (with nice photos by Paul Buckowski) in the newspaper or here.

As Waldman notes:

“Upstate New York once was the center of America’s production of hops, an essential ingredient in making beer. About a century ago, 80 million pounds came out of the region, said Duncan Hilchey, who helped develop the Northeast Hops Alliance, a group of farmers and brewers trying to build a hop resurgence in the state. Farmers recruited beer drinkers from places like New York City to come and help harvest the hops by making it a weekend celebration, with plenty of product sampling allowed and dances called, not surprisingly, “hops.”